ENGLISH PALE, also known as IRISH PALE, THE PALE, or ENGLISH LAND. That portion of Ireland brought under English rule before the complete subjugation of the island. The name l'ale was not applied to the land until the six teenth century, although 'English land' was ern. plowed as early as the time of Edward I. These terms were used to distinguish the section of country around Dublin from the surrounding ter ritories. which were called the 'marches,' or border lands. The boundaries of the Pale were at no time definitely determined, but varied with the rise or decline of English power in Ireland, and with the' military activity of the Norman and Celtic chiefs in the interior. In 1515 the Pale ex tended from Dundalk, in County Louth, to Dal key, seven miles south of Dublin, a stretch of territory about fifty miles long, with an average' breadth of twenty miles. In 1535,
although the Pale was supposed to contain the counties of Louth, Meath, Kildare, and Dub lin. the Irish plundered at the very gates of Dublin. Cromwell was led to subjugate the whole island by the rebellion of the Catholic gen try and their invasion of the Pale. The Pale was subject to the enactments of the Irish Parlia ment, and for a long time the English Govern ment with great difficulty maintained its hold upon it. In 1366 the statute of Kilkenny was passed, establishing the use of English law, and prohibiting intermarriage between English and Irish, as well as the adoption of Irish manners and customs. The supremacy of the English crown in the Pale was established by the enact ment of the celebrated Poynings' Law in 1491. Consult Fronde, The English in Ireland (London and New York, 1873-74). See IRELAND.